Sandbox Gameplay

Outside the abandoned sanatorium within Ling Lake Wetland Park, stood wooden stakes of varying thickness and size.

"I heard that if freshly cut wood isn't treated, it will crack and warp," Old Bai said, leaning on his axe and frowning as he looked at the logs haphazardly piled against the wall.

Fang Chang asked, "How do you usually treat it?"

Old Bai replied, "You either bake the moisture out of the wood, or paint the ends and let it air dry naturally. You can also soak it in water, but that makes it harder to handle when you take it out... I hope it doesn't rain these next few days."

Old Bai made a rough estimate. Including yesterday's work, cutting all these logs into 3-4 meter lengths, sharpening both ends, and sticking them in the ground would be more than enough to build up the north and west walls of the sanatorium.

However, these were untreated logs, and their durability was hard to guarantee. A few rainfalls might cause them to rot.

So, he discussed it with Fang Chang and decided to change their approach and use cement as a building material instead.

There was plenty of concrete waste in the Wasteland, and even quite a bit within the sanatorium itself.

After weathering over time, thermal expansion and contraction, and exposure to wind and rain, most of these concrete blocks that had detached from rebar had turned into rubble.

Hoping for these materials to be reliable was pointless.

But mixing these materials with cement and using some steel bars salvaged from ruins to reinforce them would be perfectly fine for building simple concrete fortifications.

Even if it was shoddy work, it was still much better than wood.

Anyway, they weren't planning to build a skyscraper.

However, to utilize this concrete waste, they first needed cement.

And to make cement, they first needed enough coal and a furnace capable of withstanding temperatures of 1450 degrees Celsius.

Just then, Gale and Night Ten returned.

Fang Chang noticed that the plastic bucket Gale was carrying was full of uniformly textured mud.

"There's a river east of Ling Lake. It's not on the map, so it should have formed within the last two hundred years. We explored the entire lake shoreline from the east to the south. The areas where mutants are active and suspected nest locations are all marked on the map."

Saying this, Gale had Night Ten take out the map, on which some marks were drawn with charcoal.

With this map, getting water from the lake would be much safer.

However, Fang Chang's attention was on the bucket in his hand.

"What's in this bucket...?"

"I found it by the river," Gale said, placing the bucket on the ground. "I suddenly thought we could use this stuff as a building material, so I brought it back."

"This stuff can't be used as a building material; it'll wash away with water," Old Bai said, squatting down. He scooped up some mud with his hand and rubbed it between his thumb and forefinger, a look of excitement suddenly appearing on his face. "But this stuff is great! We've got a solution for our kiln."

"Kiln?" Night Ten was taken aback.

"Old Bai and I discussed it; we plan to make cement," Fang Chang said.

Gale looked at him in surprise. "This... will it work?"

"Why wouldn't it? Isn't this a sandbox game?" Old Bai stood up, excitedly saying, "Just dump the mud here. Go get a few more buckets. Fang Chang, help me pick up some branches. Hurry up."

"Alright." Fang Chang went off with great enthusiasm.

Gale and Night Ten exchanged glances and also went off, looking bewildered.

The small river wasn't deep, but there was a lot of silt nearby, and it wasn't far from the sanatorium, so they brought back a pile without much effort.

Old Bai used the silt to build a circle, digging two holes on the side as air inlets. Then he put the charcoal and dead leaves left over from their earlier cooking fire inside the mud circle and lit them with matches left by the Manager.

The fire quickly rose.

The surrounding mud was slowly baked dry.

Old Bai dug up new mud with his hands, building up the furnace wall as it dried, until the furnace was as high as his thigh. Only then did he start stuffing in thumb-thick wooden sticks.

"What are you doing?" Fang Chang asked, his face full of curiosity. Although he had played survival games, he had never done such detailed work in a game before.

"Making charcoal! Without coal, we can only use charcoal as a substitute. Burning wood won't work for making cement; we have to start from the basics."

"How do you know all this?"

"I played with it when I was a kid back home."

"..."

Played with it, huh?

Who just plays with this kind of stuff?

Standing up, Old Bai clapped his hands. While the fire in the furnace hadn't yet ignited the wood, he started sealing the top of the furnace.

This step was crucial.

Before the wood caught fire, he needed to leave an opening at the top. Once the temperature inside the furnace was high enough, he would seal all the openings with mud, letting the wood inside smolder for a day. By tomorrow, they would have a furnace full of charcoal.

"If you fill up all the holes, won't the fire inside go out?"

"It won't go out right away, and that's the effect we want."

Old Bai wiped off his sweat and slapped Fang Chang on the shoulder.

"Don't just stand there, let's build a few more kilns. While we're at it, let's get the one for firing cement tomorrow ready too."

"Alright..."

Not only did Fang Chang join Old Bai's "construction team," but even Gale and Night Ten were conscripted after they finished hauling enough mud.

The four Players worked together and built four charcoal kilns. They also built a slightly larger one using aluminum silicate clay dug from the riverbank.

According to Old Bai, they could try firing some cement tomorrow.

He planned to make wood ash cement.

This kind of cement made with traditional methods didn't have much technological content and wasn't very strong, but it was definitely better than wood.

And with wood ash cement, he could try building a cement kiln that could withstand higher temperatures.

Old Bai had already made up his mind to look up information online after going offline.

"Damn it... Now I understand why the Manager told us to figure out how to get a bathhouse." Smelling the sweat on himself, Night Ten, who was already a bit of a clean freak, felt like he was about to suffocate from the stench.

This game was too damn hardcore.

"How about we go wash up by the lake before going offline?" Old Bai suggested.

"I agree... But speaking of the Manager, it's almost time to go offline. Why isn't he back yet?" Gale asked.

"Maybe he has something to do."

"Then how are we supposed to let him know about our hard work this afternoon?" Night Ten quickly asked.

Fang Chang glanced at the Sanatorium behind him.

"You don't have to worry about that. I've already spoken to that robot named Xiao Qi. It said it has recorded our achievements and will report the situation truthfully to the Manager."

Hearing this, Night Ten finally felt relieved.

Just as the Players were going offline, taking off their helmets, and getting up to start a new day, Chu Guang, who was still on Bett Street, was carefully removing the plastic bucket from under the water purifier.

Bett Street had public wells, and every household had its own rainwater collector. Chu Guang was no exception.

Aside from "Glowing Rain" mixed with radioactive dust, or when the clouds clearly looked abnormal, the rainwater in the Wasteland was usually quite safe, even safer than during the pre-war era.

After all, it had been two hundred years since the decline of civilization. Industrial society products like acid rain and smog were rarely seen here.

Of course, even so, drinking rainwater directly was not a wise idea.

By cutting a plastic water bottle in half, Chu Guang placed a layer of dried pine needles and moss below the bottle opening, and then added crushed charcoal ash on top.

Thus, a simple water filter was complete.

Chu Guang didn't know if graphite could absorb radiation, but in the distant suburbs far from the nuclear crater, radiation was not the main threat to survival; diarrhea and dehydration were.

He still remembered that in the first month he lived here, he had diarrhea almost every other day. He didn't die at the hands of Mutants, but he almost died from his own stomach problems.

"Less than 10L... a drop in the bucket."

Looking at the bottles and jars in the room, Chu Guang sighed.

He had accumulated supplies for many days, but the Players had only been here for a few days, and they were almost used up.

He had to find a way.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Chu Guang got up and walked over, pulled out the bolt, and opened the door.

He saw Yu Xiaoyu standing at the door, with her hands behind her back, her big, dark eyes staring intently at him, not saying a word.

Chu Guang, who was about to say hello, suddenly remembered the marriage proposal that Yu Hu, the second child of the Yu family, had mentioned to him earlier, and he couldn't help but feel awkward.

Even if he took ten thousand steps back.

If there was no Shelter 404, no System, no Players, and he was isolated and helpless, he could only try to integrate into this society... but he still couldn't bring himself to do it!

She was too thin.

He should at least raise her for another two years.

"Is there something you need?" Chu Guang said calmly.

Yu Xiaoyu extended the arm she had hidden behind her back.

Only then did Chu Guang see that she was clutching a small piece of dark biscuit in her hand, which was likely made from a paste of green wheat.

"My second brother told me to give it to you. He said I should say I made it for you." She spoke each word slowly.

This back-and-forth with "you" and "I" confused Chu Guang for a while. It took him a moment to figure out that Yu Hu had asked her to give him this biscuit.

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome."

After stuffing the biscuit into Chu Guang's hand, Yu Xiaoyu turned around and ran off like a puff of smoke, leaving Chu Guang alone in the wind, feeling bewildered.

In the real world.

Jinling.

After taking off his helmet, Professor Yan Feng rubbed the bridge of his nose, reached out and fumbled around on the bedside table, found his glasses, and put them on.

He sat on the edge of the bed and mulled for a while before getting up and going to the bathroom. After washing up, he put on his jacket, went downstairs, got on his bicycle, and slowly rode to the cafeteria.

The time was five-thirty.

Except for students studying for postgraduate exams, very few people came to the cafeteria at this hour. The entire hall was empty, with only a few windows near the door open for business.

The cafeteria worker busy behind the counter recognized this regular customer at a glance and said with a smile,

"Professor Yan, you're here so early today."

"Yes, I went to bed quite early yesterday... I'll have two steamed buns."

"The steamed buns have just been put in the steamer, you'll have to wait a moment."

"No rush."

Professor Yan Feng took out his meal card and swiped it on the card reader.

The steam rising from the steamer smelled fragrant.

Professor Yan Feng liked this smell very much; it made him feel comfortable. However, it was unfortunately not friendly to him wearing glasses.

Taking off his glasses to wipe off the mist, Professor Yan Feng couldn't help but think of his character in Wasteland Online.

Although his initial Strength in the virtual world was slightly inferior, he was still much stronger than his real-life self.

And most importantly, his virtual self in the virtual world was not nearsighted.

Just then, someone patted him on the shoulder.

Professor Yan Feng put on his glasses and turned his head, seeing it was Professor Wang Haiyang.

"Do you have class this morning?"

"No class, I couldn't sleep so I got up."

"I thought you physics people would stay up very late."

"That's a misconception. I rarely bring work home," Professor Yan Feng pushed up his glasses, then suddenly thought of something and looked at him, saying, "By the way, there's something I'd like to ask you about."

Professor Wang Haiyang raised his eyebrows.

"Is it about yesterday's topic?"

Professor Yan Feng nodded.

"Yes."

"Wait a moment, let me ask you something first. That novel you mentioned, it wouldn't happen to be written by you, would it?" Professor Wang Haiyang said with a smile, "Novels are better when they're somewhat ambiguous. If they're exactly the same as reality, they're not as interesting."

"Actually, it's not a novel. To be frank, it's... a game."

"A game?"

"Yes," Professor Yan Feng took the steamed buns from the cafeteria worker, peeled open the plastic bag, and took a bite. "A post-apocalyptic themed game."

Professor Wang Haiyang became interested and asked,

"More specifically?"

"I'm not sure about the specifics. The game is currently in Closed Beta, and I don't know much," Professor Yan Feng paused for a moment. "How advanced do you think a society would have to be to make cars run without a power source?"

"Without a power source?" Professor Wang Haiyang was stunned for a moment, then said with a smile, "Are you talking about using remote power supply technology to replace fixed power sources?"

"Is it very difficult?" Professor Yan Feng asked.

"I'm not sure if it's difficult or not. From the perspective of my field alone... wireless power transmission technology is not difficult. The difficulty lies in how we obtain clean and cheap energy, so that even if the energy loss reaches 90% or more, the cost is still within an acceptable range."

At this point, Professor Wang Haiyang paused, then continued in a joking tone,

"Aside from the controllable nuclear fusion depicted in science fiction novels, I can't think of a better solution."

Nuclear fusion?

Professor Yan Feng looked thoughtful.

"I see..."

It seemed that the background story in the setting of Wasteland Online was even grander than he had imagined.

There should be many areas worth exploring further.

"When do you plan to publish your novel? Can I take a look?" Professor Wang Haiyang joked, "Maybe I can even give you some advice."

Professor Yan Feng glanced at him.

"I told you it's not a novel."

"Alright, alright, if you say it's not, it's not."

Taking his breakfast from the cafeteria worker, Professor Wang Haiyang smiled and patted his colleague on the shoulder. "I have class, so I'll be going first. Good luck!"